Polenta Cakes with Crab & Eggs

Welcome to the second annual brunch week hosted by Terri of Love and Confections and Susan of The Girl In The Little Red Kitchen! Join us May 5th through 11th while we celebrate the deliciousness of brunch and prepare for Mother’s Day and summer brunching season. We have 32 bloggers bringing you their best brunch game, from cocktails to eggs benedict to donuts, there is something for everyone this week. Our amazing sponsors have donated some great prizes for a gigantic giveaway. Please visit them all for more information.

My husband and I used to go out for breakfast or brunch almost every weekend. We thought it was best to leave breakfast cookery up to “the pros.” But somehow, a $20 nonstick electric griddle changes our lives. No, seriously. For how much use we get out of this thing, we would have easily paid $200 for it if we had to.

It was a total impulse purchase. We were walking through a department store and saw a huge stack of these cheap griddles. Since we’re not big fans of nonstick cookware for everyday cooking (we prefer stainless steel), we’d had plenty of trouble cooking eggs and pancakes. Let’s face it – for breakfast, nonstick is usually best. The griddle just jumped into our arms and came home with us. And we immediately became breakfast cooking machines. Well, Jeff did. I mostly became a coffee-brewing-and-waiting-for-breakfast-to-be-cooked-machine.

A dish like this is an example of a simple but special brunch you can make at home that will rival anything at your local diner. It’s just a handful of ingredients, simply prepared. The slightly sweet polenta (cornmeal) cake is the perfect base for a pile of luxurious jumbo lump crab meat. The runny egg yolk is the only “sauce” needed. Squirt on some hot sauce and maybe a sprinkling of fresh herbs, and you’re in business.

I poached the eggs for this recipe, but WHY didn’t I cook those on the griddle too? Eggs over easy cooked on the griddle along with the polenta and crab is definitely a good option here. Use a trusty OXO pancake turner to swiftly flip everything like a short-order cook!

Have you entered the gigantic #BrunchWeek giveaway yet? There are a TON of great prizes, including brunch ingredients, kitchen equipment and gift baskets. Click here to find out more and enter to win!

Meanwhile, fill large high-sided skillet with water. Heat to a slow boil (about 190 degrees F). Add vinegar to water. One at a time, crack eggs into small ramekin and use ramekin to slowly slide eggs into water. Cook 4 minutes or until whites are set and yolks are still soft. Using a slotted spoon, remove eggs from water and blot on paper towel-lined plate.

To serve, divide polenta cakes between 4 plates. Divide crab over polenta cakes and place eggs on top. Serve immediately, with hot sauce and chopped herbs, if desired.

Disclosure: California Walnuts, Bob’s Red Mill, OXO, Dixie Crystals, Whole Foods Market Doctor Phillips, Grimmway Farms, Woot Froot, Vidalia Onion, Baloian Farms, Stemilt and Bonne Maman are providing prize for this week’s giveaway free of charge. I was provided with a pancake turner from Oxo to use for #BrunchWeek. I was not compensated for writing this post, and all opinions are my own.

We got an electric skillet for our wedding. It wasn’t something we registered for, and at the time I remember wondering when we were ever going to use it. Boy was I wrong! It’s SO perfect for breakfast, especially because you can cook more than two pancakes at once. I’m wishing I had all the ingredients on hand to make this for lunch today!

What a delicious recipe!!
I do like polenta cakes but I never thought to have them for brunch with crab and egg, I usually have them for dinner as part of a Mediterranean stack. Can’t wait to try the recipe.

Honestly, I generally prefer homemade polenta over the refrigerated roll, but making homemade soft polenta, rolling it, and getting it to come out nice is a pain! haha. So when I serve homemade, I usually just go the soft route. That sweet polenta sounds delish!

Loving this breakfast! I agree, non stick is usually best for breakfast and food blogger to food blogger, my husband is also the breakfast cook! LOL! I heart polenta and only had it with breakfast once and it was magical! I am soooo into this! Crushing on this breakfast!

Hahaha, we are some lucky food bloggers to have these husbands! If it weren’t for Jeff making breakfast, we’d still be going out for it every weekend. Because no way in hell am I spending my weekend mornings cooking, too 😉

Hi, I’m Lori! I’m a Detroit-area culinary school graduate, food photographer, recipe developer and english muffin fanatic. This blog is where I post simple, yet special, original recipes for the "home chef" in all of us.